Cargill Joins TFT, Advances Sustainable Palm Oil

Cargill is becoming a member of The Forest Trust, an international non-governmental organization that partners with companies to build responsible supply chains, in an effort to advance its commitment to sustainable palm oil, the company says.

Cargill has taken several steps towards building environmentally sustainable, socially responsible practices in its palm oil business. With the help of TFT, the company has mapped the full supply chain of its Malaysian palm oil refineries to the individual mill.

Cargill says it can now offer its customers 1 million tons of traceable palm oil from its own refineries and is continuing its efforts to map third-party suppliers in Indonesia and Malaysia.

At its PT Hindoli plantation in Indonesia, Cargill completed an extensive analysis to identify and preserve high carbon stock (HCS) forest areas, which act as stores for carbon. High conservation value (HCV) areas, which are a haven for biodiversity, were identified previously. They often overlap with HCS areas and also will be protected. Cargill will extend the experience and expertise it has acquired to three of its local business partners, who will conduct their own HCS studies.

Cargill joined the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil in 2004 and signed the Sustainable Palm Oil Manifesto earlier this year. It also adopted a new, more progressive palm oil policy in April.

Under its updated palm oil policy, Cargill pledges to build traceable and transparent palm oil supply chains for everything it produces, buys, sells and trades, including the following:

Protection of HCV and HCS areas.

No development on peat, regardless of depth.

No exploitation of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.

Cargill says it will publish four palm oil-related progress reports annually. In the next few weeks, the company will announce a detailed, time-bound plan on how to achieve the goals outlined above.